The nationwide epidemiological study of mental disorders in korea

The lifetime prevalences of DSM-III mental disorders using Korean version of DIS-III are presented. They were studied in 5,100 adults (aged 18 to 65) in household selected by two stage cluster sampling. Comparisons were made between regions, sex and age groups. International comparison with Epidemiologic Catchment Area program was also made.     

Fibrinogen and von Willebrand's factor adsorption are both required for platelet adhesion from sheared suspensions to polyethylene preadsorbed with blood plasma

Previous studies showed that platelet adhesion to biomaterials from static suspensions was greatly increased by the adsorption of even very small amounts (<5 ng/cm2) of fibrinogen (Fg). In this study, the sensitivity of platelet adhesion to Fg was reexamined by measuring platelet adhesion under flow conditions. The role of adsorbed von Willebrand's factor (vWf) was also studied. Polyethylene (PE) tubing was preadsorbed with Fg, vWf, vWf-deficient plasma, and Fg-deficient plasma or serum with added Fg, and Fg adsorption measured with 125I Fg. Platelets in a red blood cell suspension were passed through the tubes at either low (50 s(-1)) or high (500 or 1000 s(-1)) shear rates and adhesion measured with an improved LDH assay. Adhesion from flowing suspensions measured after preadsorption with afibrinogenemic plasma or serum was very low, but increased greatly with addition of Fg. Less than 10 ng/cm2 of adsorbed Fg was enough to greatly enhance platelet adhesion. Adhesion at high shear was also strongly affected by vWf, as platelet adhesion at 500 s(-1) to PE preadsorbed with vWf-deficient plasma decreased by more than tenfold compared to adhesion at 50 s(-1), but platelet adhesion to PE preadsorbed with normal plasma increased about eightfold when shear rate was increased. The results show that very low amounts of adsorbed Fg are able to support platelet adhesion under shear flow. However, adsorbed vWf also appears to play an important cofactor role in platelet adhesion to biomaterials, as its presence greatly augments platelet adhesion under high shear.     

Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) upregulates major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I expression by increasing interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma)

Tumor immunity is primarily mediated by cells as CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) recognize tumor antigen by MHC class I molecules. But most tumors are associated with a decreased expression of MHC class I to escape the antitumor immunity of the host. Our previous data have demonstrated that MPL has an antitumor effect on metastatic lung cancer of B16 melanoma with enhancing cytotoxicity due to increase of IFN-gamma and IL-2, and decrease of IL-4, which indicates the stimulation of type 1 helper T cells (Th1). To determine the effects of MPL, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, and IL-1 alpha on MHC class I expression of B16 melanoma cells, we evaluated the expression of MHC class I molecules with treatments of MPL, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, and IL-1 alpha by flow cytometry. The supernatant of MPL-treated spleen cells in vitro upregulated the expression of MHC class I molecules of B16 melanoma cells compared to the control supernatant of spleen cells. The MHC class I expression of B16 melanoma cells treated with IFN-gamma, but not TNF-alpha or IL-1 alpha, increased in a time-dependent manner. In conclusion, MPL upregulated MHC class I expression of B16 melanoma cells by activating spleen cells via IFN-gamma. These data suggest that increased IFN-gamma by MPL is responsible for the upregulation of MHC class I expression to augment cytotoxicity. Therefore, we suggest that MPL could play an important role in immunotherapy.     

Multiple imputation technique applied to appropriateness ratings in cataract surgery

Missing data such as appropriateness ratings in clinical research are a common problem and this often yields a biased result. This paper aims to introduce the multiple imputation method to handle missing data in clinical research and to suggest that the multiple imputation technique can give more accurate estimates than those of a complete-case analysis. The idea of multiple imputation is that each missing value is replaced with more than one plausible value. The appropriateness method was developed as a pragmatic solution to problem of trying to assess "appropriate" surgical and medical procedures for patients. Cataract surgery was selected as one of four procedures that were evaluated as a part of the Clinical Appropriateness Initiative. We created mild to high missing rates of 10%, 30% and 50% and compared the performance of logistic regression in cataract surgery. We treated the coefficients in the original data as true parameters and compared them with the other results. In the mild missing rate (10%), the deviation from the true coefficients was quite small and ignorable. After removing the missing data, the complete-case analysis did not reveal any serious bias. However, as the missing rate increased, the bias was not ignorable and it distorted the result. This simulation study suggests that a multiple imputation technique can give more accurate estimates than those of a complete-case analysis, especially for moderate to high missing rates (30 - 50%). In addition, the multiple imputation technique yields better accuracy than a single imputation technique. Therefore, multiple imputation is useful and efficient for a situation in clinical research where there is large amounts of missing data.     

Surveillance of COVID-19–Associated Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children,South Korea

A concerning development during the coronavirus disease pandemic has been multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Reports of this condition in East Asia have been limited. In South Korea, 3 cases were reported to the national surveillance system for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. All case-patients were hospitalized and survived with no major disease sequelae.     

Radiation protects adriamycin-induced apoptosis

Combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy have represented major advance in the therapeutic management of cancer therapy. Anthracycline antineoplastic agents are limited by a high incidence of severe and usually irreversible cardiac toxicity, the cause of which remains controversial. When the primary cardiomyocytes isolated from neonatal rats were preirradiated by γ-ray, the cells were highly resistant to adriamycin-induced apoptosis. This study shows that irradiation inhibited apoptosis by enhancing Bcl-2, attenuating Bax induction, and preventing collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ), cytochrome c release into cytoplasm and caspase-3, -6 and -9 activations.

In addition, the preirradiation stimulated the activity of manganese-superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) and the expression of Mn-SOD mRNA and protein. Adriamycin decreased Mn-SOD activity but did not change the activity of copper/zinc (Cu/Zn)-SOD under either pre- or nonirradiated condition. Phosphothioate-linked antisense against Mn-SOD, which specifically knocked down the activity of Mn-SOD but not that of Cu/Zn-SOD, reversed irradiation-induced protective effect in adriamycin-exposed cardiomyocytes. These data suggest that the irradiation-induced expression of Mn-SOD plays an important role in irradiation-mediated protection in adriamycin-exposed rat ventricular cardiomyocytes.     

Flavonoids fromCirsium rhinoceros

Six flavonoids were isolated from the aerial parts ofCirsium rhinoceros. The flavonoids were identified as apigenin, luteolin, pectolinarigenin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, linarin, pectolinarin and hispidulin-7-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-glucopyranoside on the basis of chemical and spectral evidence.     

Immunopathology of the implantation site utilizing monoclonal antibodies to natural killer cells in women with recurrent pregnancy losses

PROBLEM: Placental lesions of 71 women with documented recurrent spontaneous abortions of unknown etiology were evaluated using immunohistochemical staining. METHOD OF STUDY: Placental tissue blocks (less than 12 weeks gestation) from prior pregnancy losses were obtained, recut, and analyzed utilizing monoclonal antibody to identify the trophoblast (cytokeratin 8/18) and natural killer (NK) cells (CD57) at the implantation site. The following features were evaluated: trophoblast invasion pattern; syncytium formation; vasculitis and thromboembolism of decidual vessels; decidual inflammation; decidual necrosis; fibrin deposition at the decidual necrosis site; mononuclear-cell infiltration in villi and intervillous space; perivillous fibrin deposition; trophoblast morphology; and quantitation of CD57+ NK cells within the decidual tissue near the implantation site. Controls consisted of 20 healthy women with no history of recurrent pregnancy losses, who had their pregnancies electively terminated. RESULTS: Of the women studied, 29.6% demonstrated elevated CD57+ NK cells at the implantation site (P = 0.030), 54.1% had inadequate cytotrophoblast invasion depth (P = 0.000), 44.1% demonstrated inadequate syncytium formation (P = 0.004), and 33.9% presented thromboembolism in decidual vessels (P = 0.025). CONCLUSION: Some women with recurrent spontaneous abortions demonstrate abnormal placental lesions at the implantation site. Immunopathologic evaluation of the placental implantation site that terminated in a spontaneous abortion may reveal the immunopathogenesis of previous pregnancy losses.     

Cytotoxicity of urushiols isolated from sap of Korean lacquer tree (Rhus vernicifera stokes)

Cytotoxicities of four urushiols, congeners isolated from the sap of Korean lacquer tree (Rhus vernicifera Stokes), to 29 human cancer cell lines originated from 9 organs were evaluated. Their values of 50% growth inhibition were below 4 microg/ml, and showed cell line specific cytotoxicity. The present result is the first report on the cytotoxicity of urushiols suggesting that they would have an anticancer activity to human cancer cells.